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Published: December 2nd 2006
From San Cristobal we took an overnight bus to Oaxaca City. It took 12 hours and I managed to keep my food down for this journey! We were both looking forward to Oaxaca as we had heard great things. Upon arrival though things didn’t start too well, the taxi dropped us on the edge of the Zocalo as he couldn’t go any further due to the entire area being blockaded with corrugated iron fences. We entered the barricade through a gap in the fence and the place looked like a bombsite. It had also been overrun by mass graffiti artists. Our first impression was that the taxi driver had just dropped us in the middle of nowhere and as it was dark (6am) we didn’t know what to think. We managed to find some street signs and after all we were in the right place. Confused we found the hotel we had previously booked and checked in. The reception guy didn’t speak a word of English and Michelle’s Spanish didn’t stretch to asking him what had happened or to understand his reply at such an early hour. The hotel was expensive but nice enough, the first thing I did was put
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True Mexicans!the T.V on and City was playing Shanghai, then Utd were playing after them against Porto in the Amsterdam tournament, so I was happy with that!
After a few hours sleep we ventured out and everything began to sink in. Something big had happened here and the locals were not happy. Every building around the Zocalo (square) had graffiti on it and the whole area; around 200m square were covered in makeshift tents filled with demonstrators. A lot of the lower floors of the buildings had been burned out and destroyed. The only building untouched was a large Cathedral-no surprise there. We managed to find out the demonstration was due to a Teacher strike which started in May and the presidential elections in July. Only 2weeks before we arrived, the Army was called in to remove the protestors and 11 people were killed, including 2 children. Since then the demonstrations have been peaceful but the police are not welcome or safe to enter the area! After speaking to a few people they said that we shouldn’t worry as tourists are still welcome, even though next to our hotel some graffiti says ´turistas go home´! The problem lies with the
corrupt state Governor Ulises and not the tourists. Even with this turmoil we still stayed 6 nights and had a great time. With no police the people in the area started there own vigilante groups to ensure things wouldn’t get out of hand. We heard stories of thieves having hands chopped off and sex offenders having other things removed for there crime. May sound harsh, but it kept the streets safe.
We visited all the local sights, the best of these were the Hierve El Agua, a petrified water fall (rock formation that looks like a waterfall). At the top of this was natures own infinity pool with nice cool waters and fantastic panoramic views of the surrounding valleys, it was very peaceful and a great place to relax.
After the political turmoil we encountered we decided to look into the situation more deeply, the election in July was very close, less than 2% separated the left wing and right wing candidates. The current government is the right and a new president has to be chosen every 6 years, from either within his party or the opposition if voted in. The right won but it was the closest
election in history and due to this the loser has disputed the result, claiming electoral fraud and demanded a recount of the votes. The left have been getting evidence of dirty tricks employed by the previous government to win the election. The worst of these were in the last year, the government gave out lots of free subsidies to the poorer people, e.g, concrete mix and other house building materials, so they could build better houses than the wooden shacks they were living in. To be eligible to obtain these handouts they would have to fill in lots of paperwork and hand over their ID cards, the government was true to their word; they gave them the materials but were slow in giving the ID cards back thus ensuring they were unable to vote for the opposition. Records show that these people did vote and all were for the current government, so their votes were essentially stolen by the government in order to keep themselves in power. This is just one of the many tricks employed, this has now gone to the High courts and was resolved on 6th September, it was found that the original count was correct and
the loser is still the loser. Unfortunately he doesn’t agree, and neither do his supporters. I’m not sure when/if this will end and I’m sure there will be more trouble in the future.
One of the Golden rules is never to travel to a country during an election year, trust us!
2 weeks after we left Oaxaca the school term started and so did the riots in earnest as the teachers were still on strike. They even hijacked radio stations, burned buses and stopped traffic entering/leaving for a few days.
After Oaxaca was Veracruz, this was a strange place. Not too much to do during the day but the nightlife was fantastic and reminded me of a typical holiday resort. The Zocalo came to life with Mariachi music and traveling musicians, from solo artists to bands 10 strong, playing everything from guitars and violins to trumpets and marimbas! The square was surrounded by restaurants meaning the musicians moved from table to table selling their services for a few pesos. Because I’m a pickey I just listened to everyone else’s bands and got a free night of entertainment! The other attraction was the port and harbour, you could walk
along it at sunset and browse all the various market stalls, all selling tacky tourist gifts. The atmosphere was great and felt like Blackpool without the arcades or cold wind!
On one of the days we decided to go to the local aquarium, I’m glad we did as it was fab. It was only 2 quid to get in and there were lots to see and do. It was good to see lots of the fish we’ve seen diving even closer up and get some info about them. We also got to see manatees; they look like a cross between a hippo and a dolphin, really odd. It was good to see these as we hope to be able to swim in the wild with these later on in our trip. It was a bit sad to see them though, the tank was tiny for 5 full grown manatees and they looked very bored swimming around in circles.
After Veracruz was Xalapa (Halapa). This place was the opposite of Veracruz as in lots to do during the day but nothing to do during the night. We didn’t know much about this place so once again we trusted the recommendations
of the Lonely Planet and it didn’t let us down! The coach journey was very picturesque, rolling green hills and snow capped dormant volcanoes on the horizon and also the live volcano blowing smoke plumes from its peak. I’ve always liked volcanoes and would love to see one erupting or get close to a lava field to witness it first hand. The opportunity was there to do it here but unfortunately it was expensive and you had to be an experienced snow climber, so there goes that one! Hopefully the opportunity will present itself in the future.
One of the main things we wanted to see here was the Museum of Anthropology, apparently one of the best in Mexico. It was brilliant, we spent all day there (much to Michelle’s delight ??!!) The main attraction was the giant Olmec heads, similar to those on Easter Island, you may have seen them on T.V, and as were hoping to visit this Island later next year and thought it would be good to see something similar. The Olmecs are one of México’s oldest inhabitants and the museum had 10ft high statues up to 3000 years old. It also had lots of
pottery and jewelled funary masks.
Surprise, surprise there were more presidential protestors here. Due to our good timing they just happened to be protesting outside the government offices as we arrived! There were around 100 police dressed like Robocop in body armour with shields. A bit scary at first but we got ourselves a drink and watched it pass peacefully. After Oaxaca it seems to be a normal occurrence, easy to sit back and not worry too much about it.
After a few days we moved onto Puebla. Known for its 70 churches and Cathedral with the largest twin towers in Mexico! Nothing too spectacular about this place, just the usual big city attractions, more museums and art galleries. One thing we did do which was unexpected being so close to a big city was go on Safari! We saw loads of different animals all based on the African theme, the usuals of lions, giraffes, elephants, gazelles and lots more. It was good to see them in open spaces as opposed to behind the cages of a zoo. The only problem was the driver, he hardly stopped and when he did it wasn’t for long so trying to
get good photos through the windows of a moving bus on a potholed road wasn’t easy, our patience was waring very thin. It was a cheap day out so I suppose you get what you pay for. Maybe on our next travels we will go to Africa and do it for real.
A funny story to tell you which made Puebla memorable was on the second day; we started early and headed to another museum. After 5 mins of walking we were stopped by the police as the whole of the Zocalo and centre was blocked off. We just presumed there were more protestors and didn’t think much of it, we found the museum just on the edge of the cordoned off area and went in there for a couple of hours. When we emerged the roads were deserted apart from the cordoned off area about 200m away, this was keeping a few hundred people back, and a few police bikes going hell for leather up the road. Then a lone man appeared from nowhere with a megaphone asking people to clear the streets for their own safety. We looked around and saw locals squeezing into doorways, then a
number of armed police with machine guns appeared and then even more people rushed into the doorways so we did the same. I started to get a bit worried as there was nowhere to hide or run too. Then there was a lot of commotion as people ran around a corner followed by a by a big truck with film cameras pulling a car, that’s when the penny dropped, we were on a film set! They were asking people to clear the streets so they wouldn’t get in the shot! The hundred people behind the barriers were just people trying to get a glimpse of the film stars. All that worrying for nothing! I’m not sure what the film is and we didn’t see anyone famous but there were lots of extras walking around covered in blood as though they had been in a bomb explosion, the cars had EU number plates too so I can only imagine they were filming to look like it was in Spain, probably something to do with ETA. I suppose what we have seen over the last week you can’t blame us for being stupid with the trouble in the last few weeks!
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